Overcome school worries: Expert tips to support your child and help keep them in class.
| Published date | 26 March 2024 |
| Publication title | Huddersfield Daily Examiner |
• Try family meditation, mindfulness and breathing exercises: For those needing in-the-moment support, practising mindfulness or breathing exercises as a family can be effective. Both methods are proven to slow the heart rate and act as a calming mechanism. This can be done from any place, at any time.
• Take the pressure off: Many children feel different pressures about going to school, from feeling a need to be the most academic to being in the 'right' social group. Try encouraging your child to stay in the present, rather than fearing the next day or week of school, the next exam, and so on. Most importantly, ensure their home is a safe place of respite and support, rather than a source of more pressure.
• Talk to the school: If you're struggling with what you should do about your child's anxiety, you can speak to your child's school to seek support. The school will often be able to talk to you about particular things that might be worrying your child and work with both you and them to alleviate their worries and support them to attend.
• Speak to a professional: If you or your child are struggling to cope with worries or anxiety which persists over several weeks, it's important to seek the help of a healthcare professional, like a GP, if you haven't done so already. Talking to your GP, talking treatments such as counselling, psychotherapy or cognitive behavioural therapy (also known as CBT) can help you manage symptoms.
Heather Hackwood, trust attendance manager at Scholars' Education Trust, is...
To continue reading
Request your trial